Posted on 12/05/2004 4:28:37 AM PST by Arrowhead1952
We are getting some from a neighbor this year. Normallly, I have some people at work who have this same family tradition and get 1 or 2 dozen from them as well. You just can't beat a good homemade tamale.
LOL... That they are, kind of like when my neighbor & I BBQ. That takes a minimum of 6 - 8 hours over the pit.
I remembered some politician doing that. Thanks for reminding me.
LOL!!!!
We now make them as a family project. While hubby is stringing lights next weekend our daughter and I will be starting them.
I make them all year long, but make mega-amounts at this time of the year.
I'm a strong proponent of an orderly and well-enforced immigration policy, and am tired of the "wink-and-a-nod" policy we currently have. But posts like yours make me wonder about the true motivations of some people.
We are getting fresh tamales from our neighbor this year. She (I had no idea she was even Hispanic) and her sisters did this as kids and still do as a family project.
Family traditions are wonderful.
and now I'm heading out to participate in the familly tradition of a friend at her seafood market - Santa is there today!
It's been fun, hope to FReep with you later.
Lard is probably more 'healthful' than margarine, for instance, trans fats and all that. Both my 'Baba's' (one Russian, one Slovak) used lard for all their cooking. Butter was just too 'dear', unaffordable and reserved for special occasions like feasts at Christmas and Easter. My grandfather's favorite sandwich - no kidding, a thick slice of 'black' bread with a 1/2 inch thick layer of lard. It was one of his favorite things to take with him to work in the coal mines. He died at 92 when a new doctor failed to diagnose his recurring (black lung issues) pneumonia.
I was told they are reminiscent of a swaddled Baby Jesus. Nothing better than authentic, hand made tamales. Recently, we were able, here in rural NW PA, to find a truly authentic Mexican restaurant (SW PA) that proudly serves handmade tamales. Yu-um! I'm hooked! I didn't care for them in the past, I'd never had a good one. Those 'tamales' served to us in school out of a can wrapped in waxpaper to keep their shape, sadly deficient, really put me off them, until now...
My next door neighbor used to make absolutely wonderful tamales.
She made pork, chicken and bean varieties. While the basic ingredients are always the same, the spicing is critical, as is the skill of the maker.
For her grandson's fifth birthday she made three coolers' worth of tamales. As a guest I stuffed myself.
There's virtually no relationship between homemade tamales and the grocery store variety.
That does it.
No tamales for you.
Good tamales and beer know no race - at least not on the consuming end !
Bump
Your indeed uncharitable take is dead wrong.
Luckily we have a "Fiesta" store in town that stocks all you need.
Unless you know where to shop. My wife and I winter in the Rio Grande valley and the local panderia has an icebox which sometimes has local made tamales. We serve them with fried egg, as a little running yoke goes well with the natural tamale taste. (I usually have them at breakfast, but per instructions on this post will serve them with beer.
I think lard is healthy --- maybe not for every day but for certain foods if you're going to eat them, you should eat them right. Something --- like eating popcorn without butter -- aren't really worth it. I just had three tamales --- real ones --- made with tons of lard. Delicious!
Mmmm. I have to agree. Our country has relied on margarine like fats and corn syrup in so many foods for over 30 years and then these same folks say Americans are getting too fat and getting many diseases previously seen in 'old' people. Hmmm. Lard does actually taste better in certain foods, no doubt. I remember my grandmother's baked chicken dinner, with lard used in the bottom of the pan to keep the potatoes and carrots and veggies from sticking and chickens she raised herself. There was nothing comparable.
I've never cooked with lard, and am not sure I would even know where to find it in the supermarket.
But considering all the supermarkets around here stock all of the necessities (large mexican population) I guess I could break down and ask - and make my next batch with it and not the Crisco I usually use.
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